In the first referendum after the 25 January revolution, the operations room of the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights ECWR monitored the referendum from a gender perspective via a team of volunteers. Today, Saturday 15th of December 2012, is the first stage of the referendum in 10 governorates which are:
“Cairo, Alexandria, Dakahliya, Gharbiya, Sharqiya, Assuit, Sohag, Aswan, North Sinai, South Sinai” which make up 25 million and 887 thousand voters on the voters’ list and the voting processes will be supervised by 6376 judge.
Mobilizing female voters in private buses:
The polling stations experienced high turnout (female voters) and this high turnout could be explained by free will and mobilizing huge numbers of women in buses:-
- El Sahwa Preparatory School for boys and El Masara Preparatory school for boys witnessed mobilization of the monqaba female voters in private buses that carries plate numbers 11427 A and 9437 A
Logistical Mistakes and Late Opening of the Polls
Several polling stations were opened late:
- Late opening in New El Atwany Primary school in Aswan (it opened at 9:15 AM), as the stamp of the polling station number 44 was missing and the stamp of polling station number 45 was brought by mistake.
- Edfu’s City Council polling station number 2 was not open until 9:35 AM because the stamp and voters’ lists were not brought
- The Boys’ School in Mousha’s polling station number 12 in Assuit was not open until 8:30 AM because the judge was not there
- Late opening (8: 30 AM) in El Sheikh Zayed schools’ polling stations number 31 and 32 because the ballots were not stamped
- Late opening of Modern Preparatory School for Girls and Nile Primary school in Assuit because they were missing the voters’ list
- Late opening of Abdeen Secondary School for girls in Cairo (opened at 8:30 AM) because of the late arrival of the judges where a number of voters were present to vote
- Late opening of polling stations in El Badary, Dayrout, and Qouissiya centers in Assuit because the poll workers were not present or due to the lack of women poll workers who can check the Monqaba voters’ faces
- Voters were frightened to go and vote because of a revenge issues between two families in El Maabda village in Manflout-Assuit, gun bullets were shoot which frightened the voters and disabled the judges from reaching to the polling stations. Therefore, the red crescent polling station did not open until 10 AM
- Polling station number 12 in El Sayyida Aisha school for girls in Rood El Farag-Cairo witnessed loose closure of the voting boxes which annoyed the female voters. Therefore a heated discussion took place between a number of the female voters and the judge until they obliged the judge to stop the voting and close the voting boxes properly.
- Inside the polling station number 24 in El Tabaary school for boys in Roxy-Heliopolis, a wrangle took place between one of the female voters and the judge because she asked him to show her an ID that proves that he is a judge where the military and police responsible personnel in charge of securing the polling center intervened to solve the problem.
Instructing the voters:
- Some members of the freedom and justice party were present in front of Khalid Ibn El Waleed School in Ryayina El Maalaq in Tama-Sohag claiming that they are helping the voters to locate their polling stations in condition that the vote for Yes for the shari’a
- In El Maasra school for boys –polling station number 31, an election monitor was instructing the voters to say yes, but the judge dismissed him from the polling station
- There were El Nour political party’s posters in the Azhari Preparatory Institute in Idfu-Aswan. These posters were instructing the voters to vote(Yes) for the constitution
- Mousha primary school for boys in Assuit witnessed a tok tok with a microphone going around and saying “yes for the constitution, yes for shai’a”
- Mousha primary school for boys in Assuit witnessed the presence of the mosque Imams in front of the school inviting people to say yes in the referendum
And ECWR continues on monitoring the referendum of 2012 from a gender perspective
